Talking machine and record therefor



.April 12, 1932. A. c. ECKERT 1,853,895

I I hm Q I /6 7 v TALKING MACHINE AND RECORD THEREFOR Filed Nov. 2, 1928f qqm bnmmm /0\ /Z r mam- Patented Apr. 12, 1932 ARTHUR G. EG KERT, OFST. IDUIS, MISSOURI TALKING CHINE AND RECQBD THEREFOR Application filedNovember 2, 192a. seri ixo. 816,788.

UNITED STATES, PATENT orF cE The object of my device is to make atalking machine such as the modern raphophone, in which a record tapewill e used instead of the conventional record. In the 5 use of theconventional record it becomes necessary after one side of the record isplayed to reverse the record in order to lay the other side. There islikewise a de nite particular limitation in the vdiameter of records.For this reason it is not practical in the conventional machine to playcontinuously for a great length of timewithout breaking the continuityand without the effort of reversing and changing records. In 15addition, the storing of numerous records is quite a problem. on accountof their necessary size and weight, etc. With the device hereindescribed, it, will be possible to play for many hours without anyinterruption whatsoever, and without any manual effort.

It will be ossible to play a complete opera continuous y without anymanipulation.

My device employs the conventional sound box and tone arm and needle andmay be 5- either spring or motor operated. It is made of few and simpleparts, that lend themselves readily to multiple production and may beeasily and cheaply made and easily and cheaply replaced.

A further object is to so construct the record tape that both sides maybe used for the sound depression and that all points of both sides willbe presented to the needle without any changing or turning of the tape.

tape, so as to preserve the proper tension on the tape over the area inwhich the tape comes in contact with the needle.

A still further object is to put a twist or turn-in the tape and havethe twist or turn at the dependent suspended end and'to provide meansfor easil and simply loosening the ends of the tape, because inoperation the tape is endless.

A still further object is to provide means for the facile storing of thetape with the greatest possible space efiiciency.

With these and other objects in view my invention has relation tocertain novel fea- .3 A still further object is to motivate the.

tures of construction and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinaftermore fully described, pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in thedrawings in which:

. Fig. 1 a plan view of the top of a talkmg machme with the tonal armsound box and needle illustrated, as well as the o era- Itively andexternally visible portion 0 the record tape. I

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional elevation on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the recordtape showing the driving spooland tension spool together with the rollers that hold the externallyvisible portion of the record tape in operative position. Fig. 4 is asection of the record tape showng the spirally sha ed sound depressionsand the lateral slots or engagement with the driving and tension spools.

, Fig. 5 a front elevation of said spool together with its shaft and aconventional motor attached to the shaft.

. Fig. 6 shows an end elevation of the driv- 111%SPO01.

ig. 7 is aperspective view of the record tape showing the turn in thetape.

Fig. 8 is a fragment of the tape ends showin their jointure. I

ig. 9 is a storing spool for the tape with the tape shown in position.

Fig. 9a is a modified form of a construction that will permit the use ofa tape at greatly increased length.

Fig. 9b is a schematic view of the driving and tension spools togetherwith the record tape 16 when the latter is of the non-continuous type,showing a simple method of attaching the tape ends to the core of eachspool. o

Fig. 90 is a cross section taken on the line Numeral 10 designates thetalking machine cabinet having the to plate 11, the oscillating tone arm12 and the rectangular tape opening 13.

Numeral 14 designates the sound box and l 15 the needle. The arts thusfar described with the exception 0 the tape opening 13 are conventional.

Numeral 16 designates the record tape,

-,positioned in the mac which is rectangular in shape and has thelateral slots 17 formed therein. Numeral 18 designates the sounddepressions, which may be either of the vertical or lateral type andwhen the ends of the record tape are joined together, as will besubsequently described, the sound depressions 18 will be formedspirally, that is to say, they will proceed from one side around theentire tape and on both sides of it to the other side of the tape.Mounted within the cabinet 10 on the shaft 19 is positioned the drivingspool 20. This driving spool 20 is best illustrated in Figures 5 and 6and is formed of the core 21 and the serrated disks 22,. which aresymmetrically secured at the ends of the core 21. Mounted within themachine cabinet 10 is the motor 23. which may be either a spring motoror an electric motor, the driving shaft of which is connected directlyto the shaft 19. It will be seen, therefore, that when the motor 23 isoperated that the driving spool 20 will be rotated. Numeral 24deslgnates a tension spool, which is rotatively mounted on the shaft 25,which shaft is mounted in the machine cabinet 10, as indicated in Fig.2. The tension spool 24 is of the same shape and size as the drivingspool 20 and has serrated disks having teeth of the same pitch as theteeth on the serrated disks 22. Numeral 26 designates a rollerrotatively positioned in the machine cabinet 10, immediately adjacentone end of the tape opening 13 and extending across the opening andbeing slightly greater in width, than the width of the record tape 16.Numeral 27 desi ates a roller similarly ine cabinet 10, but at theopposite end, of the tape opening 13. The record tape 16 is positionedover the rollers 26 and 27 and over the tension spool 24 and the drivingspool 20, so that the teeth of the serrated disks of the tension spool24 and of the driving spool 20 are in mesh with the lateral slots 17 ofthe record tape 16. The ends of the record tape 16 are not joineddirectly, but a simple turn is made in the tape before the jointure iseffected. This turn is particularly shown in Figure 7. The ends of therecord tape 16 are then joined as are the ends of a power belt, butpreferably so that there is a positive continuity between the surfacesof the belt ends. This may be accomplished by having eyes 28 secured toone end and perforated projections 29 secured to the other end. Numeral30 designates a pin, which passes through the eyes 28 and the perforatedprojections 29, thereby securing the jointure' between the record tapeends without making the ointure rigid and permitting the efficientpassing of the tape, over the driving spool 20 and the tension spool 24.In order to disturb the continuity of the sound depressions 18 as littleas possible, there may be formed on one of the belt ends a flap whichwill cover the juncture between the belt ends. In that event the sounddepressions 18 would be made in this flap.

In the event that it is desired to have the tension spool 24 and drivingspool 20 as well as the rollers 26 and 27 removable, it is not necessaryto have a selective juncture between the belt ends. The juncture maythen be made by gluing or other methods, which will not disturb thecontinuity of the sound depressions 18 to any extent. It will be seenthatwhen the motor 23 is operated that the driving spool 20 will pullthe record tape 16 by virtue of the contact of the teeth of the serrateddisks 22 in the slots 17 over and around the rollers 27 and 26 and willrotate the tension spool 24 by virtue of a similar con-- tact. Bya'proper positioning of the record tape 16 on the tension spool 24, thetension of the record tape between the rollers 26 and 27 may beregulated. If it is desired to have a positive support for the recordtape while it is passing over the tape opening 13, a plate 31 may besecured to the machine cabinet 10 leaving slots for the ingress andegress of the record tape in and out of slots in the top plate 11. Itwill be noted that owing to the turn in the record tape 16, which turnwill always remain below the tension spool 24 and the driving spool 20that every point on both sides of the record tape 16 will pass over thetape opening 13. The direction of rotation of the record tape 16 isshown by the arrow in Fig. 1. When this tape is rotating, as indicated,and the sound box, oscillating arm and needle are placed in theiroperative position with the needle in one of the sound depressions 18,all of the sound depressions on both sides of the record tape will comein contact with the needle 15, since the sound depressions arecontinuous and are of spiral formation and on account of the turn in therecord tape 16. The oscillating tone arm 12, will then be oscillated inthe conventional manner by the travel of the needle 15 in sounddepressions 18 and in a clock-wise direction in Fig. 1.

Since there is practically no limit to the length that the record tapemay have in the talking machine cabinet, and since both sides areutilized, it is easily seen that there is no particular limit to thelinear extent of the sound depressions 18. In order to further increasethe length of the record tape, however, several idler rollers 32 and 33may be secured in the cabinet 10 on the shafts 34 and 35, as shown indash lines in Fig. 2. The tape may be passed over these idler rollers asshown by the dash lines in Fig. 2. The record tape may be made ofcelluloid, rubber, or any like material, which is thick enough andstable enough to receive the sound depressions 18 and which still willpermit the slight bending that is necessary around the spool and rollersindicated.

My endless turned or twisted tape may have reproduce'it. A tape thatdoes not have its ends joined together may be used. In this event oneend of the tape may be secured to the core of the tension spool 24 inany conventional manner, as is the case of the con- I ventionalphotographic films, which is secured to a spool and the tape wrappedaround the spool, as shown in Fig. 9b. The free end will then bepassedover therollers 26 and 27 as was the case in the continuing tapeheretofore described, and then secured to the core of the driving spool20. -When the motor 23 is actuated, the tape will be drawn under theneedle as in the case hereinbefore described and wra ped on the drivingspool 20 and unwound i i-om the tension spool 24, as is the case in themusic rolls 'in player pianos. The spools 20 and 24 in this instancemust be removable from the shafts 19 and 25 or the a may be repeated foras many linear sound depressions as appear on one side of thetape. Thedriving spool may thenbe removed so that the reverse side of the spoolwill be presented to the needle 15. It will be observed that the sameamount of music may be played from the non-continuous tape as from thecontinuous tape, but in the former it becomes necessary to reverse thespools at the end of every linear sound depression, while in the latterall the sound depressions may be played that appear on both sideswithout any interru tion and without any manual operation.

he term taple has been used here, but it is not intended t erebyexpressly or implicitly to limitits width. A wide tape or sheet may beused. The length of the s iral sound depression varies directly with t ewidth of the tape and with its length.

n the instance of a non-continuous tape the sound depression may belinear and need not be spiral in form. The continuous tape need notinterfere with the horn in the conventional talking machine cabinet forit may be suspended on the sides of the horn and the twist may be susended below the horn. For lengthening t e tape that is used, it is notintended to be limited to the method disclosed with the idler rollers 32and 83. Another method that may be used is the following: The tape maybe made to pass over and under bafile plates, as is shown in Fig. 9a inwhich the record tape 16 is made to pass under and over the bafileplates 36 which plates may be secured in the cabinet 10 in anyconventional manner.

is not intended to limit the disclosure herein to the use of lateralslots 17 and serrated disks such as 22 for positive driving of therecord tape 16. Any other conventional method may be used as spoolswithout serrated disks or tapes having elevations laterally positionedfor engagement with depressions in the spools 20 and 24.

Numerals 37 indicate a non-continuous record tape; each of the spools 20and 24 has a diametrical slit formed longitudinally in its core. The ta0 ends are inserted throu h these slits an the tape wrapped around t ecore for several turns. This secures a positive selective attachmentbetween the tape ends and the spools.

What I claim and mean to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A record tapehavin a twist therein and having lateral slots ormed thereon, a drivingspool comprising a core and'serrated disks secured thereto, said tape incontact with said spool, so that the slots of said tape gill. be in meshwith the serrations on said 1s s. x I 2. A sound record tape having atwist therein and having lateral slots formed thereon, .a driving spool,comprising a core a and serrated disks secured thereto, said tape incontact with said spool, so that the slots of said tape will be in meshwith the serrations on said disks.

3. A record tape having and having slots formed t ereon, a drivingspool, comprising a core and serrated disks, a tension spool comprisinga core and serrated disks, both spools rotatively mounted, said tapeassing in contact with said s ools so that t e serrations of the disks 0said a twist therein spools will be in mesh with the slots in saidrecord tape and means of rotating said driving spool.

4. A record tape having a twist therein and having slots formed therein,a driving spool comprisin a core, and serrated disks, a, tension spoocomprising a core and serrated spool.

In testimony whereof I aflix si ature. ARTHUR G. RT.

